70 die in Chinese train crash

Tuesday

Apr 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMApr 29, 2008 at 11:54 AM

ZIBO, China -- Some passengers were sleeping while others were standing in the aisle waiting to get off when the high-speed train derailed, toppling into a ditch "like a roller coaster" and slamming into another train. At least 70 people died and more than 400 were injured.

ZIBO, China -- Some passengers were sleeping while others were standing in the aisle waiting to get off when the high-speed train derailed, toppling into a ditch "like a roller coaster" and slamming into another train. At least 70 people died and more than 400 were injured.

China reacted swiftly to its worst train accident in a decade, sending top officials and soldiers to Zibo, the site of the crash before dawn yesterday in eastern China's Shandong province, and sacking two railway officials.

Authorities were quoted as saying that human error was to blame. The official Xinhua News Agency also said one of the trains was traveling too fast.

Nine cars of a train headed from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao, site of the sailing competition during the Olympics in August, were knocked into a ditch when the train derailed and hit a second passenger train, Railway Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said in a statement.

News photos showed rescuers pulling passengers from a rail car laying on its side. Survivors bundled in white bedsheets from the sleeper cars stood or sat near the wreckage. The death toll could rise, with 70 people hospitalized in critical condition, according to Xinhua.

Security was tight on the outskirts of Zibo, with roads to the crash site sealed by police and nearby roads lined with paramilitary and police vehicles.

A total of 420 people were hurt, Xinhua said. No foreigners were among the dead. Injured survivors included four French nationals, a coach from China's national sailing team and a 3-year-old boy.

The injured were scattered at hospitals throughout the region, and patient wards were quiet by last night. Ten people were forced to sleep in the hallway of the packed orthopedic surgery floor at Zibo Central Hospital.

About 1,000 soldiers and armed police officers were sent to the crash site to seal it off and help with the rescue work, Xinhua said. Heavy cranes were used to move the wrecked rail cars, and workers aimed to reopen the line. Officials seemed to be in a rush to get the line functioning again ahead of the May Day holiday weekend, when Chinese flock to resort cities such as Qingdao.

The second train, which had been headed from Yantai in Shandong to Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu province, was knocked off its tracks but stayed upright.

Xinhua said the Beijing train was traveling at 82 mph at the time of the crash, over the speed limit of 50 mph.